Looks like the buzz is getting a second wind as The Hill reports President Obama may be open to the idea of a bailout for the newspaper industry. The Hill cites an interview during which Obama told some newspaper editors he would be happy to view proposals.

Reports the Toledo Blade:

Several bills have been introduced in Congress to aid the newspaper industry, including a Senate measure that would allow newspaper companies to restructure as nonprofits with a variety of tax breaks. The President was noncommittal about the legislation but said: “I haven’t seen detailed proposals yet, but I’ll be happy to look at them.”

Sorry folks. This is ridiculous. It’s true, news organizations are necessary for a healthy government. However, newspapers are NOT.

Newspapers that go under fail for a reason, as is true with all businesses. Throwing money at a failing entity is like using a life boat with a hole in it. It might work for a little while, but you’ll still sink eventually.

Thankfully, the President is at least giving this some critical thought to the problem:

“What I hope is that people start understanding if you’re getting your newspaper over the Internet, that’s not free and there’s got to be a way to find a business model that supports that.”

I support the journalists and news industry in the United States. If a bailout is in the works for them, GREAT! But it better not be for newspapers. It should be for journalists (business classes?) and business models that work in the modern landscape.

This is part two of my series about diversifying your income streams. See part 1 if you missed it.

If you read my last post in this series, you’ve likely put together a list of your skills and a few other lists as well. If you didn’t, go back to post 1 and write your lists. Then come back.

Now that you have your lists, finding ways to monetize your journalism background should get a lot easier.

In this post, I’ll give you an 8-step plan for getting started with skills monetization outside of newspapers and a few excellent examples for putting your skills to work. Let’s get started (which is often the hardest part).

Get Off Your Ass!

If you’re looking to supplement or even replace your journalist’s salary, you’re in for a ride. This isn’t easy, but it can be very rewarding.

Here’s my overly-simplistic plan for getting yourself a secondary income:

Cycle time: 6 months

1. Get an idea for what you want to do; how do you want to spend your time?
2. Find like-minded individuals who can help (call them Team A … size varies)
3. Meet regularly with Team A (at least once weekly for 3 months)
4. Find a common goal or project for Team A. If you can’t find one, find Team B
5. Determine how project can make $, when and for whom.
6. Assign tasks and deadlines to team members to achieve team goal (meanwhile, get an LLC and operating agreement)
7. At 6 months, evaluate the situation.
8. Decide to go forward or move on. If you continue project, repeat steps 6-7

This process can be done without a team members, but you’ll likely see benefits from working with others. If not for ideas, others can contribute through labor or even administrative work.

This is the most basic plan I can offer. You can fill it up with all the extras and details that you want. Just keep to the 6 month schedule, consistently evaluate your position, and stay on the lookout for opportunities.

Now for the projects.

Getting Beyond News Orgs with J Skills

Obviously there’s a ton of ways to make money with your journalism skills outside of newspapers and traditional news orgs. Depending on your skills you could do anything from *cough* PR and marketing *couch* to website layout design to writing greetings cards.

Hate those options?

Here’s a few ideas that should inspire you:

Idea 1: Same Skills, More Intimate Audience

This idea I’m about to share really blew me away. I’m impressed. And surprised.

So what’s the idea? You.

That’s right, it’s all about you.

Each of us has a story to tell. But few actually have the chance to share those stories, even with loved ones.

Sounds like a good market for a storyteller, doesn’t it? That could be what newspaper writer Claire Cummings thought when she created Remember The Journey.

Cummings writes “professionally penned life stories” and packages them in framed displays with photos of the subject.

“Traditional publications can’t write about everyone because some stories do not interest the broader community. I’m trying to offer a service that allows everyone’s story to be told,” she writes in a Facebook message to me.

What I like about this idea is how unique it is – and it’s using her J-skills. Cummings has “a real passion for telling the stories of regular folks.” And in this venture, she’s able to use all her skills of interviewing, writing and storytelling she she has honed during her years at major newspapers.

“Navigating the whole business landscape has not been too difficult because I have years of practice in researching new things as a reporter. At the end of the day, most of the skills I need to make my company successful are those of a journalist — accuracy, empathy and good eyes and ears for detail,” she writes.

Options for writers are endless. Get creative.

Idea 2: Give People Something to Look At

Here’s an idea you may have heard of before. It has the same principles as Cummings’ business, but with a different medium: photography.

I’ll be honest. I hate staged photos, unless they are so awkwardly presented that it’s a farce. I hate wedding photos where everyone stands together, stiff and unnatural. Sorry, I really do.

I can bet I’m not the only one who feels this way, since some news-trained photographers have found some room in the crowded wedding and special event space.

Check out Wasabi Photography for an example of “documentary wedding photography.”

Wasabi is made up of several newspaper photojournalists, and they travel worldwide to perform image storytelling.

You can bet I’ll have someone like them at my wedding … wonder if they travel to Thailand? :/

….. Some other ideas for photogs? Try selling your extra pics on sites like iStock. It might not be a ton of money at the beginning, but if you have some good images and can promote them, making a few extra K annually shouldn’t be too far-fetched.

Idea 3: Do it Better!

If you think you can do business better than whatever news org your working for, then do it. Seriously. Do it.

You really might have a better shot at delivering what people want.

The Huffington Post launched on May 9, 2005. It is the No. 1 blog listed on the Technorati top 100. TechCrunch, No. 2 on the Technorati top 100, launched June 11, 2005. No. 3 Mashable launched July 2005. Pete Cashmore, who launched Mashable, was born in 1985. 1985!

These are all huge, high-traffic sites. In their respective circles, TechCrunch and Mashable are the authority on their subjects. and guess what, those sites are only 4 years old.

The point is this, the web makes it almost – *almost* – FREE to start your own news company. If you want to run your own news service, you have no excuse not to.

You have a head start because you’re already a journalist. If you think you can do it better, or at least as good, then do it.

Don’t worry about taking on a huge project. Start with a small niche subject you’re interested in, and TAKE IT OVER!

Idea 4: Teach

A number of people I worked with at my college newspaper have entered teaching (including me haha).

Why is this the case? Well, some say the journalist background gives them an upper hand on dealing with stressful situations and getting kids aware of current events.

Plus there’s a ton of opportunities: Teach for America, community colleges, the college you graduated from, community adult enrichment courses, TEFL :), your local library, your local university … or even start your own local group to form a networking space and get consulting gigs.

Teaching is actually a lot of fun, and trust me, the J-Skills come in handy.

NOW GET STARTED!

There’s tons of ways to make money with your J-skills. The trick is to start brainstorming about what YOU can do and take some action.

If the unthinkable (layoff, pay cut, furlough) occurs, you’ll be a lot better off if you have something to supplement your income or give you a stepping stone into something different.

NEXT UP: PROMOTION!

Here’s something I’ve heard from a few journalists:

“I’ve found the most intimidating thing about being in business is trying to market myself and my company. As a journalist, I’ve been taught to stay neutral and avoid promoting anything,” Cummings (Remember the Journey) told me.

In part 3 of this series, you’ll hear a few ideas for promoting your stuff.

awesome images courtesy zzzack and Claire Cummings and peiqianlong.

This is part 1 of my series about diversifying your income streams. Make sure to see Part 2.

It’s time to stop asking “are we at the end of newspaper times” and start preparing yourself for other options.

The writing on the wall is as clear as it can be – diversify yourself.

If your job at a newspaper is your only meal ticket, this series is for you

Your Basket Has a Hole in it

If you’ve ever taking an investing course or a business class, you’ve probably heard you should never put all your eggs in one basket.

You know what? That’s true in journalism too.

If there’s anything the mid-2000s should have taught news people, it’s that you can’t depend on your employer to support you your whole life. News is a business. And business has a bottom line. And when that bottom line isn’t met, cuts start.

So what can you do?

Get To Know Yourself

One of the easiest ways to get started with diversifying your income streams is getting to know what you can do for others. You’d be surprised at how versatile news people actually are.

Take some time to analyze your skills and your situation.

Here’s an exercise for you – Load up text editor, and then enter the following questions:

• What Do I Love Doing?
• If I have Free Time, What Do I Do With It?
• What Kind of Help Do My Friends and Family Ask of Me Because of My Unique Skills? (any skill)
• Which Skills of Mine Do Others Request? How? When? Why?
• What Do I Want To Do? What Do I Want?
• What Don’t I Want?

Now write. Skip between questions if you like. You may find, like I have, that the answer in one question will help answer another. Write until you’ve exhausted yourself, even if you think something is unrelated.

Warning: You’re not going to find the secret answer to wealth and happiness here. But you will have some things sorted out for yourself that you might not have seen as real before you wrote them down. That’s the first starting point.

The point of this exercise is to make your answers tangible. Now you can start working with them.

Now What? Start Analyzing

Take a look through your list. Do any of your answers match across the different questions?

Draw connections. Find holes. Look for unexpected answers.

If you find some connections, you’ve got something to work with. The next step is to start exploring those connections and figuring out how to put them together – from point A to point B.

If you haven’t found some connections, even better. Take your desires and do some more brainstorming – you can create a whole new list about “actions I need to take to get what I want.” Then think about how can your current skills help you get where you want.

NOTE: This exercise will be a waste if you only draw up this list and then close the document never to open it again.

Next Up: Monetization On the Brain

Check out Part 2 of this series – Monetizing Your J-Skills.

BTW, This series of posts was inspired by many of my former colleagues who have faced layoffs, furloughs and paycuts, as well as those who have started their own ventures to supplement or even replace their incomes.

img by rbphalen

Everything Best Buy CMO Barry Judge talks about Best Buy doing this or that, think about how a news organization can do or think similarly.

What did you think?

Today is my last day serving as senior producer for MLive.com.

My video explainer (turn your volume all the way up – sorry about that)

WHERE I’M GOING

Since 2007 I’ve been working on my own internet marketing group with three others. We started by building websites for small and medium-sized businesses, and that grew into other things, like search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click marketing (PPC) and social media marketing.

This year, we’ve far exceeded our goals, and we have the confidence to start making this a real gig.

My full-time “job” will be internet marketing for my own crew – Optimal Webworks!

AM I BAILING ON JOURNALISM?

No. I’m not.

I’m going after a dream of mine that I think I have a real shot at achieving.

In the meantime, I’ll still be talking at universities about the new landscape for journalism and I’ll hopefully have more time to share ideas here for using new media to improve journalism.

AM I OPEN FOR BUSINESS?

YES … if the project is right. Contact me through this blog or @shawnsmith or through OptimalWebworks.com.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

It’s been awesome to get to know many of you through this blog and conferences and working relationships. You really helped push me forward and think in new directions.

To my friends at MLive: You all are awesome. It’s incredible to look at what we accomplished in the four years I spent with you despite numerous limitations. Thank you Eric Braun for hiring me and encouraging me. Thank you Mark Hauptschein for keeping me on a upward track and your advice. Thank You Bill Emkow for listening to me, believing in me, and pushing me to do what was necessary – for MLive and myself. Thank you Justin Rogers for filling all the holes I ignored and balancing my madness. Thank you Mike Schiller for being a good friend. Thank you Christine Lasek and Tim Agne for putting up with me and helping me learn how to lead. Thank you Mike Itchue and Jonathan Oosting for hearing me, challenging me and finally taking the reigns. Thank you Kevin Nichols for making me feel welcome. Thank you James Schmehl and Phil Zaroo for some of the best shares in the office. Thanks to everyone who helped me succeed.

To my friends at Advance Internet: I can’t thank you enough for all the opportunities you’ve given me. From sending me to New Orleans during the Katrina aftermath to shooting the shit at ONA conferences to encouraging me to push the envelop at MLive – you guys really gave me a chance to explore and grow. As my time winded down at MLive I realized what an incredible family Advance is. For all the cursing I did in the beginning :), I don’t think there would have been a better place for me to be employed. Getting hired and embraced into the Advance Internet family was one of the best things I could have ever asked for. Thank you Scott Brodeur for engaging with me and encouraging me from the start – even before you were at Advance. Thank you John Hassell for inspiring my Twitter effort and your support. Thank you Joe Territo for giving me an ear. Thank you Steven Ibanez for shooting the shit with me and asking my input.

And thank you newspaper friends I made. You all helped me become a better teacher and a better listener. There’s big success on the horizon. And I know it may not seem like it sometimes, but your efforts really are moving things in a positive direction for journalism and the company.

PARTING ADVICE

To people looking for jobs: If you want a job in the internet world, you have to be passionate about the web and show examples of your passion. In the new new journalism, it goes 1) online 2) mobile 3-tie) dead-tree print & tv. If this isn’t how you think, then don’t apply to work for a website.

If you want some real opportunities to try things online, look no further than Advance Internet.

And another thing, if you don’t have a blog, facebook, twitter, youtube, delicious, digg, stumbleupon and reddit account, get it now or you don’t even meet the status quo. No one is going to teach you. You have to learn it yourself …. that is until I publish an e-book this summer :)

SEE YOU ON THE INTERNETS

Who knew?

Says Forbes about J-School applications:

Columbia, Stanford and NYU applications increased 38%, 20% and 6%, respectively, from the previous year. Same thing at state schools. The University of Colorado (up 11%), University of North Carolina (up 14%) and University of Maryland (up 25%) all saw gains.

Hot diggity dee.

MY QUESTIONS

So this begs a few questions from me to students:

1) Do you believe successful careers in journalism are still possible?

2) Do you have plans for supporting yourself on the salary of a journalist?

3) Are you ignoring the lack of money in the journalism industry? Do you care?

4) Why are you going into journalism?

NOW MY ADVICE

As if you asked for it.

If you’re a j-schooler, that’s excellent. The world needs more journalists who can do good work.

That said, while you’re in school I’m going to give you some words of wisdom I wish somebody pounded into my head: take a few business classes. Take an HTML class. Take a photo and video class. Write a blog and try to monetize it. Don’t let yourself graduate with just a standard j-school degree. Soak up everything you can while you’re in school.

——-

I’m definitely interested in your thoughts though – why choose journalism over other more lucrative majors?

Ever notice how the most interesting articles online seem to command too much of your time? Have you ever stopped reading a long article online because you saw that it was paginated into 8 clicks? ‘Ugh, 8? That’s just too much,’ you might have thought.

If you’re anything like me, this  happens to you all the time.

THE PROBLEM WITH LONG FORM ARTICLES ONLINE

Most of us read longer articles when we don’t have time to do so. For example, a friend might send you an email with a link to a really excellent piece, and you visit the link.

‘Huh, that IS interesting,” you might think. Then you may bookmark it to your delicious.com account or your browser or just file your email into a “To Read” folder.

Let me ask you this, how often do you go back and read those articles in their entirety? My guess is not often – again, that is if you are like me.

Despite my level of interest in a piece, I rarely, if ever, re-visit a long article online. I just don’t have the time. Long, in-depth articles are too overwhelming for me to read. Really.

THE REAL PROBLEM WITH LONG ARTICLES ONLINE

Long articles are usually the most researched and most interesting pieces you’ll find. The New York Times and magazines like Vanity Fair do a great job producing them. If you can make it through the whole read, you’re likely to come away satisfied. But most of us don’t.

And that’s not the biggest problem. The big problem is people like me will visit the long article, skim a little bit, look for pictures, captions, subheads and an easy summary to get the jist of the article, then we’ll leave. We likely won’t click any of the 8 paginaged pages of the article.

And that means you won’t get all the page views you could get if you approached long form articles differently.

This excellent long form article may pull in a lot of unique visitors, but it’s page views that pay the bills (that get advertisers happy).

The answer is more simple than you expect, and it’s not “add more social bookmarking buttons.”

CAN PRINT LEARN FROM TV?

Before I give you the answer, think for a moment what are the most popular types of TV shows right now. If you guessed series, you’d be right.

Think of how many people huddle around their TV each week to see the next installment of ‘24′ or ‘American Idol’. What about all the money producers have recouped by selling DVD box sets of TV show seasons?

Why does this work? Because longer content is broken up into episodes.

Sure, some people will sit on their couch for a full weekend and watch all of season 1 of ‘Heroes’. But more are likely to catch the show each week.

Now, let’s translate this to print, physical or online.

HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR LONG IN-DEPTH ARTICLES ONLINE

Long articles usually aren’t time-sensitive. In fact, they’re often stories that could be released at just about any time, especially when it comes to some magazines.

Ever noticed that? A truly interesting article can come about at any time. And what print often doesn’t have that TV does is the ability to promo good content for days, weeks or even months in advance. If you’re printing a big story, and you haven’t told anyone about it, how do you expect people to notice it? Are you relying on social networks to share your stories and give you viral traffic?

Forget it. You want to keep readers interests?

Don’t cut down the stories, break them up.

Print a little bit each day. Give readers one page to read and a cliff hanger, then tell them to come back tomorrow for the rest of the story. And if you have an 8-click in-depth article, let readers know you will have an installment coming each day for the next 8 days.

It’s more likely that over the course of those 8 days, you will get more page views, and even page views of previous days’ articles, than you would if you just tossed the whole darn mess up in a single swoop. And that’s what you want. More page views = more selling power = more ads = more money = staying open.

Want to know what spurred this post? Check out this excellent piece from Vanity Fair about the slipping of the NY Times from the top down. If you can read through more than a couple of the paginated pages, you are a more dedicated reader than me – and most others.

I REALIZE MY FOLLY

This post is already bordering on too long. So I’ll cut it here. What do you think?

btw, excellent bunny image by tm_lv

If you’re still teetering on the edge, start first by watching Jon Stewart’s skewering of CNBC analysts:

You can read the play-by-play of the segment as relayed by Columbia Journalism Review, which post-show said Stewart “(with the help of his writers, of course) is the most incisive cultural critic in the land. Period.”

Time to Get Journalisty

You’re going to read a lot about this segment, and will probably see this video passed around Facebook and Twitter accounts for next few days. What you shouldn’t overlook is the analysis of why what Steward did was so fantastic.

For that, turn to the Huffington Post – YES, THE HUFFINGTON POST, which provides some analysis on how John Stewart’s story calling out CNBC’s reporting resonates so strongly.

Here’s some of their quick points:

•  
  • Great research trumps good access to the powerful
  • The American public is mad as hell right now, so why isn’t the mainstream media?
  • Tear down this wall…of pretending that the media itself isn’t a major player in American society, and isn’t a factor in most big stories
  • The American public is mad as hell right now, so why isn’t the mainstream media?

What To Do Next

Stop hating. For realz. Not that all of you are, but some of us have to remember that anyone can commit acts of journalism. And sometimes the people without the big degrees and background can make a bigger impact on society.

The Huffington Post highlighted a comment on the Romensko blog: “it’s simply pathetic that one has to watch a comedy show to see things like this.”

Really? Why is that?

So do a lot of other people, including public figures … like Congressional members.

Michigan Rep. @PeteHoekstra recently caused a stir for Twittering his visit to Iraq, which some called a breach of security.

But that’s not what’s interesting. What’s interesting is that Hoekstra is essentially making the news himself and communicating it directly with his followers/constituents. And he doesn’t need journalists to do it.

Why Journalists Should Care

I’ll make this short and sweet, don’t ignore public figures on Twitter.

Why?

Take a look at this quote from Texas Rep. John Culberson in The Washington Times:

“Every time I send out a tweet, I’m throwing another shovel of dirt to help bury the old media.”

Send up any flags for you? It should.

Twitter is what Congressional members have been drooling for since the dawn of politics … a clear channel to an audience without media interference.

So What Can Journalist Do

Not everyone is on Twitter. And even people who follow elected leaders on Twitter catch every tweet and connect the dots.

But guess what journalists can do? If you guessed “connect the dots” and digest the analyze the tweets alongside events, politics and legislation, you’d guess right!!!!

Write stories that integrate Twittered comments from public figures and make them accessible to your greater audience. People will think you’ve really got your finger on things, and you’ll look pretty cool.

No prize for this one, except relevancy.

Just something to think about, or ignore. Btw, look out for that flying dirt pile!

But many people still wonder how they can use it for their job.

If you’re interested in Twitter tools, check out my Twitter resources list.

But if you want to learn more about what’s in it for you as a journalist, check out Beatblogging’s recent Twitter series, which includes a decent archive of journalists using Twitter and also some other resources.

Patrick Thorton (@jiconoclast) put together a great screencast on how he uses Twitter for reporting, check it out:

HAVE OTHER IDEAS? HOW DO YOU USE TWITTER FOR REPORTING?